As It Should Be
by Cosprongs
Summary: Soul is enrolled at Spartoi University, fresh out of high school with his best friend. They don't exactly know what they're doing, but they're bound to figure it out. ...Right? Enter a petite, blonde girl with a knack for getting on Soul's nerves and freshman year is sure to be full of great surprises. College AU
1. Settled

**A/N: Notes will always be at the bottom.**

 **Disclaimer: Brah, it ain't mine.**

* * *

 **As It Should Be**

-Chapter 1: Settled-

Soul Evans was not the best student. He didn't often study, he didn't like the library, and he wasn't particularly fond of the majority of his classes. It didn't help that most of his classmates were unbearable at the best of times.

One good thing that had happened to him was his roommate: Frederick Blackstar had been his best friend since junior high, when they arrived at basketball try-outs together and ended up on the team. The blue-haired egomaniac hated his first name, though, and almost everyone knew him simply as Blackstar, much to Soul's amusement. The only person that got away with calling him anything but was Soul, but it only happened when Blackstar pissed him off.

Which, oddly enough, wasn't as common an occurrence as it used to be.

Their dorm room reflected their personality. Personality—not _personalities_ —because despite Blackstar being a people person and Soul hating people, they found love in the same bands, television shows, and movies, as well as celebrities, scantily-clad women, and the secret geeking-out over superheroes. Memorabilia from midnight premieres, late-night concerts, and under-age parties adorned their walls and corkboards. Trophies sat on their bookshelf (devoid of books and filled instead with movies, videogames, and gaming consoles between the trophies), medals were hung over their beds, and the television was set on one of the dressers, the other pushed against it and housing a microwave and junk food. They set their beds to the highest level, enabling them to keep their mini-fridges underneath, along with other things they had brought from home that they may or may not need throughout their first two semesters of college, including three basketballs, four soccer balls, and Soul's guitar, secure in its hard, black case.

The two were lucky and managed to snag a room in the honors dorm, because Blackstar was a hell of a lot smarter than he let on and the housing office wanted to honor roommate requests as much as they could. (It probably helped that they still had free space in the honors dorm and no space in any other dorm that Soul was meant to live in.) This meant, of course, that they lived in a twenty-four hour quiet hall, and, despite being a "dorm," they got to have their own bathroom.

When they discovered this fact, they collected all of the _Batman_ bathroom supplies they could find, successfully creating a themed bathroom that friends back home would laugh at them for.

(Though Soul wanted a Captain America bathroom. That would have been _way better_ than Batman.)

Once the room was properly (dis)organized, the two went to the computer lab, printed their schedules, and began walking around the campus of Spartoi University. Since classes were due to start in two days, Soul had suggested they try to figure out where exactly their classrooms were. "One of the orientation leaders told me they unlock all the doors during normal class hours a week before school starts so we can find 'em," he had told Blackstar as he hung a Twenty One Pilots poster on the ceiling above his bed.

Fortunately, the information proved to be true for the halls in which their classes took place. Unfortunately, the information proved to be false for the places that food would usually be served.

They stood outside the Student Union on their phones, schedules folded and tucked in pockets. Blackstar groaned, loud and disappointed. "The fucking place won't open until the first day of classes. What're we supposed to _eat_?"

Soul scrolled through his phone. "Downtown's less than a ten-minute walk, and it's not like it's gonna rain on us. Let's go find something."

Blackstar shrugged. "All right. Worse comes to worst, there's a gas station that way." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "They've got, like, hot dogs and slushies."

"Gas station hot dogs?"

"They can be good!"

Soul shook his head. "Whatever."

The walk turned out to be closer to twenty minutes, partly because they got lost, partly because they couldn't figure out if they had left campus or not ten minutes into it. Downtown was well worth it, though, in Soul's opinion. It had a rustic feel to it, and jazz music could be heard drifting out the doors of a nearby coffee shop. He was tempted to go straight there, but Blackstar wasn't fond of coffee, and Blackstar was going to be a pain in his ass if he didn't get real food first.

The more shops they passed, the less inclined Soul was to get food. He was more interested in the record store and skate shop, the art gallery and theatre. More than once, Blackstar had to tug on his shirt sleeve to get him moving again. He knew there was a reason he purposefully went to a state university instead of a private, music-oriented one like his brother. He'd rather be here, in an old town that _feels_ like life than in a new, pristine city with bustling crowds.

Somehow, they made it to a local pizza place between a bar and another coffee shop. The inside reflected the street outside, and the smell of freshly-baked cheese pizza filled his nose. His stomach growled, and Blackstar shot him a smirk. Unsurprisingly, most of the seats were empty since it was almost three o'clock, and Soul hoped that meant they could be in and out fairly quickly. He wanted to check out a few of the shops before they went back to campus.

From behind the bar, a pretty dark-haired girl approached, picking up two menus on her way. "Welcome to Monty's! I can sit you guys over here." She brought them to the left, around a corner, and set the menus on a table by the wall. Soul noticed there were no booths and made a mental, albeit sad, note to remember that for maybe next time. The girl put her hands on her hips and smiled, and Soul noticed Blackstar smiling in the goofy way he did when he spotted a particularly beautiful girl. "I'm Tsubaki, and I'll be taking care of you today. Wanna start with something to drink?"

"Coke's fine for me," Soul said, inwardly laughing at his best friend's awestruck expression.

"Yeah, me too," Blackstar said in a daze.

Tsubaki's smile widened, and she gave a little giggle. "I'll have them right out. Let me know if you have any questions about the menu, okay?"

Blackstar nodded.

Soul smirked, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms. Blackstar pretended not to notice, looking everywhere but at him.

They ordered a large pizza to split, knowing that anything they didn't eat they could heat up later tonight or tomorrow. Blackstar actually struck up a conversation with their waitress, going so far as to suggest she give him her number.

She smiled, thanked him, and politely refused. When they were well away from the restaurant, Soul laughed. "That was great."

Blackstar huffed. "She wouldn't give me her number."

"That's what's so great about it."

"Bet she woulda given it to you."

"Probably."

"Y'know, you can disagree for once. Save your bestie some confidence and shit."

Soul snorted. "Right, 'cause you're so lacking in the confidence department. You'll probably be asking her again next time."

Blackstar grinned. "Damn straight."

* * *

 **A/N: A very short first chapter. I plan on this being a full-length story, but I wanted to see how it goes with just this little introduction. I have my last week of classes this coming week, then a week of finals, then I'm done for the summer and can spend all my time writing. That is legitimately all I plan on doing. I am determined to finish three full-length stories before classes start again in August, so we'll see how far I get.**

 **Leave me a review, let me know what you think and if you actually want to see where this is going. It's much appreciated (:**


	2. Beginning

**As It Should Be**

-Chapter 2: Beginning-

The alarm blared some God-awful pop song Soul didn't recognize, and he slammed his hand over the snooze button. His eyes slowly opened, squinting through the bright morning light coming in through the window between his and Blackstar's beds. Somehow, his best friend was already throwing his covers off and jumping out of bed, stretching.

"Rise and shine, dude! We got an hour to dress and get breakfast!" Blackstar dropped and proceeded to complete ten push-ups. "Man, I hope they have cinnamon rolls."

At the mention of the possibility of cinnamon rolls, Soul perked up. He dressed and brushed his teeth in lightning speed, merely shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair to make it look not as flat after falling asleep with it wet. "Did you check the menu?"

Blackstar looked up from the sink, toothbrush hanging comically from his mouth, toothpaste dripping down his chin. "Dere's a menu?"

Soul dropped his backpack onto the floor. "Yes."

"I 'idn' know dat," Blackstar muttered, continuing to brush his teeth.

With a roll of his eyes, Soul pulled out his phone, using the school's mobile app to find the cafeteria menu. Grinning, Soul slipped his phone back in his pocket. _Cinnamon rolls_.

They left their room, Soul leaving Blackstar to lock it up behind him. As soon as he turned around, though, he ran smack into a petite, blonde girl. She squeaked and fell back, and he instinctively grabbed her arm to stop her from hitting the ground. Her books tumbled out of her arms and the hand that he didn't have a hold of swung out towards the ground. Her hair was in two ponytails, one over each shoulder, and her skirt was short, though the combat boots threw him off a bit.

Those legs, man. _Those. Legs._

He must have been looking too long, because she coughed and a book met his skull before he could properly send any signals from his brain to his limbs.

"Ex- _cuse_ , you," she said, raising the book again. At risk of cracking his skull open in the middle of the hallway, he dropped her arm, and she fell to the ground.

"Sorry," he muttered, hands held up in surrender.

She narrowed her eyes at him and stood, brushing herself off. "Watch where you're going next time." She shoved roughly past him, which didn't actually do much but encourage him to take a small step back so she could fit between him and the wall comfortably.

"Wow," Blackstar said, leaning casually against their door. "That was anticlimactic."

"Careful. If you use words like that, people might actually think you're intelligent."

"Screw you." He pointed at the door across from theirs. "Which one d'you think she is?"

Soul followed his finger to the names on the door, immediately turning around to look at their door without reading the other. "Ha. Frederick."

Blackstar spun around and angrily ripped off his nametag. "Bullshit, man. I even told her to call me Blackstar when I signed in."

"That's unfortunate."

"Screw you," Blackstar repeated, stuffing the tag into a pocket of his backpack.

Soul poked one of the tags on the opposite door the girl had come through. "Maka," he said.

Blackstar punched his shoulder. "How the hell do you know that?"

"'Cause we met a Tsubaki at Monty's, and I don't think many people have that name."

"No way." Soul raised an eyebrow at his friend, but Blackstar only repeated, " _No. Way._ "

 _Oh, right._ They were living across the hall from the cute girl that waited on them at the restaurant.

The one that wouldn't give Blackstar her number.

 _Ha_.

* * *

His first class was World Civilizations, a history course.

It wouldn't have been so bad if the class had consisted of more than fifteen people, including the professor and the Maka girl.

Which he got stuck sitting next to.

Not by choice, of course. No.

 _He_ had gotten to class almost ten minutes early, and she had walked in with the professor, talking animatedly with him. And he was responding. Just as enthusiastically.

Soul already knew he hated her.

And then she sat right next to him.

Granted, there weren't twenty-something seats available in the room, but there were seats that weren't next to him. In fact, there were seats far _away_ from him.

The professor was quick to go over their syllabus and course schedule, then it was notes, notes, notes. It was boring, and Soul had a lot of trouble concentrating. Something about nomads and small tribes, maybe?

They were assigned homework—to read the first two chapters (which were almost fifty pages each!) of their textbook and take notes on them, to be turned in next class.

And the girl, Maka, just had to turn to him and introduce herself, only to stop mid-sentence and glare. "Oh, it's you." She said it with such disapproval that Soul's frown only deepened.

"Yeah, it's me," he replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. "Sorry to disappoint."

She stood and stalked away, and he rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long semester.


	3. Blair

**As It Should Be**

-Chapter 3: Blair-

It took two weeks for Soul to realize that Maka was in more than one of his classes. Part of this was due to the large lecture classes that were required for any degree being made up of at least fifty people at a time. So it wasn't just in the hallways of the dorms he had to see her, or even in the café or Union if he wanted to eat. No. He had to see her every freaking day of his life in class. History. Sociology. English. Biology. The only respite he got was through his three music classes.

The other part had been due to a girl called Blair capturing his attention with her ample cleavage and flirting. Blair had long, purple hair. Her favorite pieces of clothing were black and either skin-tight or barely-there. She was confident in her body and everything she did, and Soul thought that was sexy as hell. And her clothing choices didn't hurt, either. More to look at.

As a hormonal teenage boy, Soul very much liked to look at.

Blackstar wasn't very fond of her at first, but that was probably mostly because Blackstar came back to the room in the wee hours of the morning six days ago after a rather large, loud party and found Soul and Blair having sex. After a few days, though, he warmed up to her, insisted on her coming around to the room more. She did, of course, take him up on that, and even brought her roommate with her whenever she came now. They were both surprisingly good at videogames, and Blackstar lost at Mario Kart for the first time in his life against her roommate, Charlotte.

"Such BULLSHIT." Blackstar gripped his steering wheel, baring his teeth at the television screen.

Charlotte grinned toothily at him, dark hair falling away from her face. "Oh, I'm sorry. Must suck to suck."

"You would know," Blackstar shot back. Charlotte only rolled her eyes, not bothering to reply to him.

Blair sighed loudly and reclined into Soul's chest, since she sat between his legs on his bed. She tossed her steering wheel to the foot of the bed and stretched, bending her neck over his shoulder as she did so and giving him a _really fucking great_ view of her chest. "I think we should go get coffee."

"I don't like Starbucks," Charlotte said, setting her controller next to the console.

Soul blinked and turned his attention to a very interesting spot above the TV. "There's a coffee shop downtown that plays jazz music."

"Ooh, Soul, that's the most I've ever heard you say at one time!"

His face grew hot, and Charlotte threw a nasty look at her roommate for him. "Geez, Blair, give the guy a break. Thought you looked the silent type?" she teased, pointing accusingly at her.

Blair winked at him. "I do."

Blackstar suddenly stood, throwing his controller to the side. It clattered across the floor as he said, "I say let's go. To the coffee shop with the jazz music!"

"To the coffee shop with the jazz music!" the girls chorused.

Just as they all got their shoes on and Blackstar was sticking his wallet in his pocket, a knock came at their door. Since Blair was closest, she answered it, smiling at the guest. Soul came up behind her, thinking it would be a pretty bad situation if their RA thought Blair was in there without him or Blackstar.

Instead, it was Maka, as luck would have it. Her door was open, her blonde hair was smoothed back in a high, neat bun, and there was a pencil stuck behind her ear and a blue highlighter in her hand. "I don't know if you've noticed," she said, "but this is a twenty-four hour quiet hall. I'm trying to study."

"And we're trying to get coffee," Blair said, sickly sweet. "Soul knows this great coffee shop downtown." She bumped his hip as she spoke, continuing with, "I'd invite you, but if you're studying, we wouldn't want to disturb you."

Maka narrowed her eyes. "If you're leaving, then there won't be a problem," she said matter-of-factly. "Though I'd prefer if you didn't come back drunk. You were loud the other night."

Blackstar laughed. "Dude, that was, like, a week ago! Kinda late, huh?"

Charlotte pushed through them, taking Blair's hand as she went. "Let's just go and leave her to study. She's right—it's a twenty-four hour quiet hall." Unlike Blair, Charlotte was sincere, offering Maka an apologetic smile that wasn't returned with anything but disdain. Her smile didn't falter, however, and Soul greatly admired her resolve to be kind to everyone. He didn't have nearly enough patience for that.

Soul was the last to leave the room, locking it behind him. Maka was in her doorway, watching them leave, arms crossed over her chest. "Wouldn't hurt to lighten up, y'know," he told her, dropping his keys in his pants pocket.

She childishly stuck her tongue out at him, and, being the immature child that he is and actually often doing that to annoy the living hell out of his older brother, he did the same to her in reply.

She slams the door, and he knocks on the wood and calmly reminds her that they live in a twenty-four hour quiet hall.

* * *

At Joe's Coffee, Soul offers to pay for Blair's cappuccino with his black coffee. Blackstar wolf-whistles about it, but Blair only smiles and slips her arm through his.

Oddly, he doesn't really mind. Somehow, he actually met someone he doesn't mind being around (excluding Blackstar).

The best part was how she liked the same kind of music he did. Two hours had gone by with her gushing about concerts she had gone to and why certain songs on certain albums were her favorites and, "God, don't you just hate some of their new stuff? I'm not saying they're selling out, but I like the old stuff better. It's all about the sound." He mostly nodded along, giving his own input every now and then.

He didn't know what Blackstar and Charlotte were doing while he and Blair talked, but the rough punch to his shoulder and Blackstar pointing at a corner of the shop effectively ended their chat. Following Blackstar's finger, he saw the waitress from the pizza place, Tsubaki. The girl Blackstar brought up every now and then with new plans to properly introduce himself. Even though he never had.

"Now's your chance," Soul said, motioning for Blackstar to get up.

Blackstar shook his head. "I dunno, dude."

Charlotte nudged him. "Do it. Do it now."

"It's now or never," Blair agreed, though she looked unhappy, the corners of her mouth slightly turned down in a frown. Soul thought about asking why. Thought better of it.

Blackstar nodded seriously, finished his third coffee, and stood. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," the girls said, and Soul nodded encouragingly.

They watched him walk back with a sure step, though his face told them everything they needed to know. Soul tried assuring him without words that he'd get her attention eventually, but he didn't think it came through very well.

* * *

 **A/N:** I love opening my e-mail and finding new story followers and reviews. It makes me so happy, and it's so encouraging :3 Y'all are awesome.

So like. Even though I said I wouldn't be updating until after finals... I lied. Screw finals. I'm so done with school right now. Failed one class, possibly failed another, aced one, got either an A or a B in another, and tomorrow will determine my final grade in my last class. lol who needs a gpa anyway

Aaaaand I'm just sayin'. I'm, like, addicted to Teen Wolf. I just added another fandom to my nonstop list. And I'm starting Merlin and Game of Thrones this summer. This is dangerous.


	4. Possibly

**As It Should Be**

-Chapter 4: Possibly-

 _You're a loud drunk._

Soul stared at the piece of paper taped to his door, dumbfounded. She must have been talking about Blackstar, because he gets even _louder_ when he's drunk, whereas Soul just completely loses his already-faulty filter. Last night, Blackstar also proclaimed he was "the best damn student in this entire fucking building, so you can bow down to me now!" The worst part was that he was not drunk—the fool just received a perfect mark on his first chemistry test, despite taking a professor that everyone claimed was unfair and too hard. Apparently, Blackstar fucked up the curve, and he wasn't going to admit it to anyone in his class, merely brag about it to his friends. A wise decision, really.

He was certain the neat scrawl came from the blonde across the hall, and he was very tempted to stick a passive-aggressive note back on her door. Passive-aggressiveness was annoying to begin with, but to be passive-aggressive about somebody's drunken state… Why didn't she do the smart thing and mess with them all night? Knock on the door, watch from her peephole. Her roommate would have probably enjoyed it, too.

He left a note on her door.

Because he's an asshole.

He even took care to use proper grammar.

 _You need to get laid._

He taped it to her door with a smirk before unlocking his door and slamming it behind him for good measure. If she was in her room right now, she'd see it right away. Cool.

He tossed his backpack onto his bed and sat at his desk, absently spinning in his chair. He needed a topic for his English class, his first paper in his college career. They were reading Homer's _Odyssey_ , and they were free to choose whatever topic they wanted so long as it pertained to the work or Greek mythology. He'd need to find sources on what he chose, too, so he knew he had to be wise. And learn how to use the library's database, because he decided to test out of the library science class. _Mistake, mistake, mistake_.

He opened his laptop and began looking up essay topics. He'd love to do something on Circe, but he also didn't particularly feel like reading up on how horrible men were and that's why she did what she did. Men were pigs, end of. No, thank you.

There was a knock on his door, and he stopped his searching to stare at it. The knock repeated itself, so he rolled his eyes and stood to answer it. One the other side stood Maka, and Soul shoved his hands in his jeans' pockets. Her arms were crossed tightly over his chest.

"You're note is ridiculous."

Soul raised an eyebrow and smirked. "How do you know it's _my_ note?"

"I peer-graded your history quiz last week. The handwriting was familiar."

"Paying attention to my handwriting? Damn, Tits, that's some dedication."

Her face reddened. "Don't call me that."

"You're right, Tits. Hey, you have a topic for your essay yet?"

She frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Just making conversation."

"You're not taking my idea."

"Holy shit, Tits. I'm making conversation, not fishing for topic ideas." Even though he totally was, because _hey uh yeah maybe you can help me find one?_

Her gaze softened, and he relaxed, the smirk leaving his face entirely. "I'm writing on Circe. She's an interesting character in Greek mythology, and Odysseus' meeting with her is only one of many."

He visibly deflated. "I was gonna do Circe," he admitted, running a hand through his hair.

"Did you read the books?"

"The _book_?"

"The _books_. It's made of separate books. They're not chapters." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why don't you research Polyphemus?"

"The giant dude?"

"Oh, my God, why am I even trying to help you?" she muttered, rubbing her eyes. "Yes, he's giant in size, but he's a _cyclops_ , not a _giant_. Those are two completely different creatures."

He nodded. "Okay, so I'll do that."

"Thought you weren't fishing for ideas?"

"I lied."

She took a step back towards her room. "Obviously. Don't bother me again. And stop coming home so loudly. You wake me up every Thursday-night-slash-Friday-morning."

"But Thursdays are party days."

"Don't you have any Friday classes?"

"A music class at noon."

She shook her head. "Geez. Okay, whatever. Be quiet coming back. And tell your friend to stop bothering Tsubaki. She's not interested."

"Whatever, Tits."

Her jaw tensed, and he waited for her to say something. Instead, she opened her door and went inside, flipping him the bird before closing and locking it behind her. Two months of living across from each other, and they had their first mostly-civil conversation. Blackstar would be proud.

* * *

A week later, Soul was having lunch with Blair, though he wasn't eating. He was hurriedly trying to finish a composition that should have been finished by now and was due the next morning. Just like his father had said he would, he was letting his work pile up until the day before it was all due, and now he was feeling the stress of it. He still hadn't taken notes for History that were due the next day, nor had he finished his English essay due in two days. There was a Sociology test in three hours that he hadn't studied for, and he had yet to read the chapters assigned for Biology, two of which were supposed to have been read for the class that was two hours ago. Oops.

His mind was also still reeling from his conversation with his blonde neighbor last week. Since then, they had had two more conversations, one a not-so-sober conversation Thursday night as he tried to push Blackstar into their room and one a very-much-sober conversation on their essays and how they were coming along. She actually asked him if he needed help.

He said no. He only realized after how much of an idiot he was in saying that, because he most definitely _did_ need help. Fucking databases. He didn't even know which one to use.

And he kept calling her "Tits." He knew her name was Maka, knew she didn't like the nickname, but it was amusing how her face reddened and her lips pursed. Every time he did it, it took her longer to reply—if she replied at all. Sometimes she up and left. Sometimes she slammed her door in his face. She threatened to break his nose if he didn't stop the day before.

Blair, on the other hand, was getting distant, and Soul thought it was because she had gotten bored with their relationship. Honestly, he was already bored, had been for two weeks, but he didn't usually break up with the girls. He let them break up with him, because he simply didn't care if he had a girlfriend or not.

He also kind of got literally scarred the first time he tried to break up with a girl. She thought his mother's vase was plastic. It wasn't. The scar across his chest can attest to that. He'd needed _stitches_.

Unfortunately, Blair didn't seem to be the one to break up with boys, and it was slowly eating at Soul's nerves. She liked to play. He knew that going in. He didn't know that she purposely tried to get the boy to break up with her if she got bored. Throwing a fit if she didn't win at Mario Kart or flirting with Blackstar, though, just didn't bother him. He was used to that. Blackstar threw fits. Past girlfriends have flirted with other people in front of him (and he had done the same). From what he could gather, it would come down to which one of them would crack first. From what he could gather, they were equally stubborn.

The next night, they'd all go to the Green Door like they usually do, drink like they usually do, maybe dance like they sometimes do, probably smoke. And nothing will change.

* * *

Except it does, because Soul can't be right for once in his life.

Not only does Blair immediately go off to get herself a drink and Charlotte drag Blackstar to the dancefloor, but Soul spots Maka shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot with a drink in her hand. Alone. In the corner. He wants to shake her, go "don't you know you don't stand in a corner, alone, at a club?"

He makes his way over to her, hands in his pockets. If she's going to be uncomfortable, she may as well do it with company. "Hey," he said, leaning against the wall next to her.

She jumps, some of her drink spilling out of her cup and splashing to the floor. She backs from the spill, tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't scare me."

"Don't be loud, don't scare you, don't call you that. Anything else you wanna add to the list?"

"Don't be an asshole."

"That one's a bit more difficult, Tits."

"Leave me alone."

He lightly kicked at her foot. "Um, no. That's kinda why I came over here." She stared at him, incredulous. He rolled his eyes and explained, "Not a good idea to be here alone. You're a tiny girl."

"I'm not here alone. Tsubaki's over there." She nodded to the bar, where her black-haired roommate was chatting with…

Good God.

"Holy shit," slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it when Tsubaki's hand met Blackstar's cheek in a slap. And a laugh escaped.

Maka, however, looked horrified. "Tsubaki!" she hissed, but the other girl couldn't hear her over all the noise and across the room.

Soul watched Blackstar as he rose from his seat and walked off, joining Charlotte again further down the bar. Near them, Blair was getting cozy with a dark-haired, bearded man. Maka must have followed his line of sight, because she said, "Looks like your girlfriend really loves you."

Soul choked on his own spit. "What?"

Maka frowned at him. "Aren't you two dating?"

"That doesn't mean we love each other."

"Then why would you date?"

Soul's mind drew a blank. Had this girl never been on a date before? Had she never had a boyfriend before? A girlfriend? Was she really the "only date if you love each other" type? How would she even know if she loved the other person if she wouldn't date until she knew? The fuck?

"Huh?"

Maka repeated her question, but Soul's response was the same. She took a sip of her drink and said, "Never mind. Aren't you bothered by that, though?"

Soul shrugged. "Not really."

"Why?"

"Why should I be?"

She blinked. Blinked again. She swallowed, shook her head, and sipped her drink.

Soul smirked. "Alcohol gettin' to ya?"

Maka giggled. "Ha, that's funny. You think I'm old enough to drink."

"No, I don't. I know the bartender doesn't card here." He paused, saw her blush. "You actually look like you could be sixteen. Maybe fourteen, if you bring those pigtails back. And I mean that in the nicest way possible."

"Thanks?"

"It's a compliment."

They were quiet for a few minutes, then she said, "I'm drinking Coke."

Soul smirked. Typical.

* * *

 **A/N:** It took me so long to update, I'm sorry. I got busy and then re-wrote this chapter three or four times. I want this story to be about ten chapters, and I need to show that 'oh hey look soul and maka _can_ get along.' If you think it went too fast, let me know, please! Thank y'all so much :)


	5. Confusion

**As It Should Be**

-Chapter 5: Confusion-

Soul was woken up by Blackstar stumbling through the doorway and tripping over a skateboard. He blearily watched Blackstar struggle to his bed, inwardly groaning at the sight. The idiot had brought a girl back with him. He couldn't tell who it was, and, frankly, he didn't care. As long as he could fall asleep again and not hear anything, Blackstar could do what(and who)ever the hell he pleased.

The incessant squeaking probably would have kept him awake if he hadn't been so tired. Instead, Soul fell back asleep very quickly, a blonde with long legs taking over his dreams.

And giving him a problem when his alarm went off at ten the next morning.

* * *

When he left his room to grab a bite to eat before his class, he backed into Maka. Her squeak when he caught her arm before her back hit the floor almost made him drop her, and she glared at him. He was vividly reminded not only of the first day he met her, but of his dream last night. At that thought, he did drop her, shoving his hands in his pockets, mumbling an apology, and leaving as fast as he could without looking weird about it. He probably looked weird about it.

He didn't look back, but he heard running to catch up to him, her bag hitting her leg as she did. He imagined a bruise probably forming on her thigh, which didn't at all help his thought of not imagining her in not-so-innocent positions.

"Soul, wait up!" She slowed next to him, eyeing him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he replied shortly. He knew he was probably coming off mean, and after last night, he should probably be nicer, but he would really rather not be compromised before his class.

She was quiet as they walked down the stairs together. Soul had hoped she wasn't as in shape as her figure would suggest, but she easily kept pace with him. It was even worse when they left the building and she said, "Did I do something or are you just not a morning person?"

She sounded hurt, and he knew it was because they actually had a pretty good time last night and now he was acting like it hadn't happened. But he couldn't even look at her without feeling guilty, because if there was one thing he had learned from last night, it was that she was absolutely the most innocent person he had ever met. He felt awkward about the entire situation.

"I'm not a morning person," he grumbled, deciding to go with the excuse she gave him. "I'll feel better once I've got food."

He mentally cursed himself. _You coulda told her you're just not a morning person, you're in a bad mood, and you wanna get to class early. Instead, you practically invite her to breakfast. You absolute fucking moron._

"Mind if I join you?"

He shook his head, because there was no going back. He'd already dug his grave.

Amazingly, he actually did feel better once he ate a bowl of cereal, slurping his milk when he was done with the cereal itself. She was doing the same, and Soul vaguely wondered if it was something she'd done her entire life or if it had become routine when she started college. For him, it had become routine, much to Blackstar's amusement.

Maka set her bowl back on the table and sipped at her still-hot coffee. Soul, however, drank his coffee as fast as he could. Maybe if he burnt his throat he could get away with not talking.

Luckily, Maka didn't seem keen on talking. It was barely eleven-fifteen when they finished eating, and she was taking out a book. He finished his coffee and read upside-down, never finishing a page before she turned it. He didn't understand what was going on anyway (bound to happen when starting a book in the middle of the story), so it didn't bother him. Eventually, she looked up and met his eyes. He saw amusement dancing there, and he frowned. Had her eyes always been that green?

"Somehow, I don't think you would be interested in this."

"What is it?" he asked, genuinely interested.

" _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen. Trust me, you wouldn't like it."

"How do you know?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll give you something else to read. I have my spare copies of _Harry Potter_ in my dorm. You can borrow them, if you want."

He nodded. "I like the movies."

She scoffed. "The books are so much better."

"If you say so."

"I do say so."

Her look was so fierce, he cracked a smile. "Okay then." He drummed his fingers on the table before saying, "Want me to walk you to class?"

Her cheeks turned pink, and he had to fight the smirk threatening to appear on his face. "I'm pretty sure my class is the opposite way from yours."

He held his hands up in surrender. "Just asking." Though now that he knew that, he would rather not walk her to class today. Maybe another day when he would have more time to make it to the music building.

They went their separate ways, and he tried not to think as he walked to his building. It worked just fine for him until he actually entered the music building, the calming scent of old but clean halls drifting over him. The walls in the lobby were made of wood, and the doors immediately in front of him opened to the concert hall, which he would have to perform in within the next month. (He should probably sign up for a time with his piano teacher…) To his right, the teachers' offices were lined up, a corkboard with important dates and flyers announcing different school activities hung on the wall before the hallway. To his left, the classrooms branched in three different hallways. He followed the closest one all the way down, ignoring the soothing sounds of classical music flowing out of the open doors of the practice rooms. His second composition was up for critique by his teacher today, and he didn't want to be distracted by the beautiful music from his classmates.

A boy dressed in a black suit and with black hair styled with three white stripes on one side stepped out of one of the practice rooms in front of him holding a violin case. He waved at Kid as he passed, but Kid stopped him.

"May I ask you a question?"

Soul shrugged. "Sure."

"Do you know Liz?"

"I know her sister."

Kid shifted and cracked his knuckles one at a time. He wouldn't meet Soul's eyes as he rushed out, "I want to ask her out but I don't know where I should take her."

For a moment, Soul didn't reply. Then, "Oh, you want my advice?"

Kid nodded. "Well, you have a girlfriend, don't you?"

He did? Oh. Right. Blair. They still hadn't broken up. Shit. "Yeah." He gripped his backpack strap. "Um. There's this really good pizza place Blackstar and I found called Monty's. It's downtown."

Kid nodded again, and Soul was slightly worried his head might fall off, if his fingers didn't first. The guy was incredibly nervous, and Soul didn't understand why. He'd met Liz once, and she was really nice. Not as loud as her sister Patti, at least as far as Soul knew. They both worked at the coffee shop Soul frequented on Saturday afternoons for homework, and Patti usually sat and talked with him, asking him for help in some of her high school classes, talking about how she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to college like her big sis or not. From what he knew of Liz from Patti, she and Kid would actually get along pretty great in a relationship.

"Do you want to make it a double date? I think it would be more comfortable. You and Maka, Liz and me?"

Soul's eyes widened. Him and Maka? Since when? "Um—"

Before he could correct him, Kid's phone beeped, and he excused himself to answer it before waiting for Soul's reply. Defeated, Soul made his way to his practice room, where his teacher was waiting, tapping his foot just inside the door.

Soul was distracted through the entire practice. His teacher corrected him multiple times, but it was difficult for him to apply the corrections when he was trying to figure out how to explain to Kid that "Blair's my girlfriend, not Maka, why would you even think that?!"

He didn't know when he left the music building, let alone when he entered the dorm building, but Blackstar was alone in their room, sitting at his laptop, when Soul opened the door, dragging his backpack along the ground behind him. Blackstar took one look at him, frowned in concern, then burst out laughing when Soul explained the situation to him. Soul scowled and threw his backpack as hard as he could at his friend with enough force for the chair to drop to the floor, Blackstar hitting the back of his head on the desk on his way down.

He kept laughing.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm sorry it's taken me a few weeks to update. I have had this chapter written for a while, but I couldn't get myself to get on my computer to review it and actually post it. Some stuff has happened and it's been hard for me to do anything but go to work and read books that make me feel slightly better. I'm going to try to get the next chapter up tonight for y'all, too.


	6. Decision

**As It Should Be**

-Chapter 6: Decision-

"You want me to _what_?"

Soul ran his hands over his face. "He thinks you're my girlfriend, and there's no way for me to explain the situation."

Maka narrowed her eyes, arms crossing over her chest. She was tense all over, and he could _feel_ the anger coming off of her in waves. "Have you two even broken up yet?"

"No?"

She slapped him. Hard.

His hand flew to his cheek. She didn't look like she had much muscle, but damn if that didn't hurt. "What the fuck?" Oh, shit, that voice was most definitely not cool. Damn it.

"You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend for this double date while your real girlfriend is left in the dark about it?"

Well, when she put it that way… "Yes!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're despicable." With that, she slammed the door in his face.

He slammed his own door behind him and pulled a pillow to his face, screaming angrily into it. This was far more difficult that he thought it would be.

* * *

"Duuuude."

Soul wanted to choose to ignore his roommate, but he knew it wasn't really an option. Blackstar would continue to bug him until he listened, so he closed his textbook and laptop and faced him, falling back onto his pillow.

"Why don't you just break up with her? Sounds like it would solve a lot of problems for ya."

He huffed out a breath. "Probably," he admitted, digging the heels of his hands in his eyes.

He heard Blackstar open one of the mini-fridges and pop open a can of something. He gulped the drink down loudly before telling Soul, "You should do it, like, today."

"Probably."

There was a moment of silence before Blackstar said, "Like, now."

Soul groaned. "I guess so."

Blackstar stared at him from across the room until Soul forced himself from his bed, grumbling.

He texted Blair, but she didn't respond. It wasn't hard to find her, anyway, but it would have been nice for her to text him back and make the entire thing slightly easier for him. He also would have been able to ask to meet her somewhere more private than the student union, because he'd rather not have an audience for a break-up. He never had before, and he didn't plan on starting now that he was in college. Nope.

She had a different idea, though. Despite being all over one guy when he approached her, she immediately latched herself to his side when faced with the prospect of a break-up, and Soul panicked. He didn't know what to do about that, especially when she started kissing him—and then _deepening_ the kiss, and what was he supposed to do but kiss her back? He's never _not_ kissed someone back, including the drunk Christmas party last year when Blackstar chose dare and had to kiss him. Talk about awkward.

"Soul-y! I'm so glad you're here! C'mon, sit."

She pushed him into a seat and sat herself on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. Across from him, Charlotte shot him an apologetic smile. He knew Blackstar and Charlotte had been waiting for him and Blair to end it, but the busty girl was making it really difficult. After weeks of not being a couple, she was suddenly being couple-y.

The guy she had been attached to before he appeared—Eric, if Soul remembered correctly—was looking thoroughly confused, and Soul imagined he couldn't look much different.

An hour later, he was still there, her in his lap, their friends laughing it up around them (because some of them were his friends, too, even if he didn't feel like being around the other three or four that weren't). He remained quiet, which wasn't out of the usual for him, so the sharp intake of breath when he saw Maka across the union didn't go unnoticed. Blair followed his gaze and scowled, tightening her hold on him.

Maka didn't seem too impressed by that. In fact, she pointedly turned her back on them, and Soul almost looked away again until he noticed the shock of blue hair with her. His heart just about stopped.

Blackstar was sitting with Maka and Maka's roommate, Tsubaki, the girl Blackstar had been trying to make a good impression on for the past couple months. He must have succeeded. While Soul stared, dumbstruck, Blair pulled on his hand, and he followed her, unable to fully control his limbs. Soul couldn't figure out what was going on, and Blackstar, for once, had a complete grasp on the world around him. It was disorienting.

Soul didn't realize where they were going until they reached her dorm, and he harshly pulled his arm out of her hand. "Hold up."

She stopped in front of her door and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "What? Are you going to break up with me for Maka Albarn, of all people?"

"What?"

"I've seen the way you look at her. You shouldn't be looking at another girl like that when you have a girlfriend."

His hands flew to his hair, ready to rip out chunks of it. "Oh, my God! Blair! You have been flirting with, making out with, and having sex with other guys the past month and a half!"

"Says _who_?"

"Okay, then, fine. Have you or haven't you?" She didn't reply, so he continued, "We haven't been an actual couple for weeks, and I really don't care anymore. So I'm breaking up with you, because I don't want to be with you."

Silence reigned for a good five minutes, and Soul dropped his hands to stuff them in his pockets. Finally, Blair said, "You're an asshole," and unlocked her door, closing it with surprising softness.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm sorry if this chapter and the last one sucked. I'm trying to keep up with what I had at the beginning, but recent events have kind of made that a bit difficult. Goal is to have this story finished by the time the new semester starts. If there are any inconsistencies (because I think there might be? but I'm dumb so? heh), feel free to let me know so I can go back and fix some stuff up for y'all.


End file.
